Roses are Red
by pinetree13
Summary: He hated seeing her cry. He hated it even more when he knew he had caused it. He never, ever, wanted to cause her pain. With their timelines, though, avoiding it was hard. oneshot


**If any of you are reading my series right now, I promise I'll get back to it soon, but I just had to write some oneshots in the meantime.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.**

The Doctor slammed the door behind him as he entered the TARDIS. He was so angry that he didn't even bother to check where he was going, just pushed the required buttons and let Sexy do the rest. To be honest, he didn't _care_ where he was going, as long as it wasn't here. 

Once again, River and he had gotten into a rather intense argument. And, once again, neither of them refused to admit they were wrong. The way the Doctor saw it, he was _never _wrong, and so he shouldn't have to say it.

The argument sort of began at dinner the day before. He had shown up at her cell in Stormcage and offered to take her out. There wasn't any particular reason; it had just been too long since he'd seen that version of her: _his_ River.

Anyway, he had attempted to make her dinner in the TARDIS kitchen. To his utter amazement, it actually turned out pretty well. Who knew fish fingers and custard were so easy to make?

After their usual discussion over where exactly they were in each other's timelines, they discovered that, for once, they weren't too far off, maybe a couple months, but that still wasn't very long.

River had known that he wasn't traveling with her parents any more, but she wasn't quite sure if he'd gotten a new companion yet. So, she decided to ask, "Any girls in mind for your next companion?" Honestly, she was just trying to be clever. She assumed he knew that. 

The Doctor, slightly miffed at this assumption, thought an equally clever answer would be, "Any guards that you haven't kissed?" 

Apparently, if there was a right way to answer her, that was _not _it. And it wasn't like they hadn't had this conversation before. They'd discussed this many times. The fact was, most all his companions _were _girls, and at some point, River would need to use her hallucinogenic lipstick. 

Now here stood the Doctor minutes after River requested to be taken back to her cell. He was still positively fuming as he thought about the whole thing. But _he _wasn't the one who should have to apologize! She started it!

He couldn't help but smile at this thought. He knew he sounded exactly like a five year old, but it was true. She made the first remark; he was simply retaliating. 

The more he thought about it, though, the more he thought that perhaps he could have retaliated a bit more gently. But part of him still said that he was merely defending himself. What he'd said had been provoked.

His thoughts went back and forth like this. He was so caught up in following them that he didn't even notice when he'd landed. _Landed?_ He hadn't put in coordinates, only sent the TARDIS into the time vortex. So then if they'd landed, then where was he? In his head, the he noted that the brakes must have been off, as the landing was all but silent.

Before just rushing out the door, the Doctor decided that it would probably be a good idea to check the monitor, just in case.

On the screen he saw River. Immediately, anger started to well up again inside him at the remembrance of earlier. Upon further inspection, though, he saw that she was lying face-down on her bed, her face practically hidden from view. Practically. He could see her well enough to know that she had been crying for quite some time. The clock on the monitor confirmed that he had been gone for about twenty-two hours. 

_Wow, _the Doctor though guiltily, _It's been nearly a day, and she still seems very upset._ Any and all anger completely vanished to be replaced by regret. Perhaps he had been a little too harsh. After all, she _had _only been trying to make a joke. 

He had to make it up to her somehow, because he absolutely _loathed _the thought of her sitting in her cell crying for a whole day. Something had to be done.

So now he flew around the console, pushing buttons and pulling levers. This time, though, he knew exactly where he was going. 

As planned, he landed right outside of a flower shop. Only once he walked inside did he realize that he was totally out of his comfort zone here. He knew girls liked flowers, but what _kind _of flowers? After all, this wasn't just any girl; this was River Song. 

There was a young woman at the register that seemed to sense his discomfort, so she called over to him, "Are you looking for anything in particular?"

Turning to face her, he answered, "Well . . . no. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for."

The woman smiled warmly. "You can't go wrong with roses."

"Ah, yes, roses!" He wanted to at least _seem _like he knew what he was talking about. "I'll take you're largest bouquet of roses."

After paying for the flowers with what he assumed was the right kind of Earth money, the Doctor headed back to the TARDIS with a bouquet so big that he could hardly hold it. In fact, he found that he couldn't hold onto them while trying to fly back to Stormcage, so he called out, "A little help, Dear?" and to his relief, Sexy flew him exactly where he wanted to go, leaving the brakes on this time.

River could hear when the Doctor landed, and immediately jumped up, rushing to the door of her cell. As soon as he opened the door he could hear her saying, "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It was all my fault! I don't care where we are in our timelines; I just have to let you know." When she saw what was in his hands, though, she became speechless.

"Don't worry about the timelines. We're at practically the same place." He sonicked the lock and opened the door, handing her the flowers. "You don't have to apologize for anything. I was completely wrong. That was an incredibly stupid thing for me to say." She could tell he meant it, too. The whole time he spoke, his eyes never left hers; his voice never wavered. 

Slowly, she reached out to take the flowers. Because of this unexpected surprise, the only thing she found herself able to say was, "How did you know roses were my favorite?"

The Doctor smiled and shrugged. "Lucky guess."

River laid the roses on her bed and threw her arms around him, tears beginning to pass the brims of her eyes once more. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. He hated seeing her cry. He hated it even more when he knew he had caused it. He never, _ever_, wanted to cause her pain. With their timelines, though, avoiding it was hard. This had been a pointless dispute, and he swore silently to himself that he would do everything he could to avoid causing her additional pain, even if it involved losing a fight or two.

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